Working to a Brief

Overall for all briefs

There are a lot of different elements you have to consider when you receive a brief. The main fiver areas you need to consider are as follows. Firstly you need to be able to interpret the brief you will need to be able to correctly work out what you need by this i mean you need to be able to establish and clarify with the client for the proposed product in order to inform designers decisions. Secondly you will need to develop a initial idea design which follows the agreements of the brief you have been given. Thirdly you need to agree on communication with the client and how and when you will communicate. Also it will be important that the different stages of the design are shown to the client so they can see the on-going improvement. As well as that it is crucial you receive feedback from the client so you know where things can be improved. All the way through you need to make sure you’re still meeting the briefs expectations. Also to consider you need to identify all components required to produce the work, asses technical requirement’s associated with the production using the guide lines given. Another thing will you need to do would be to identify and consult with any support services required for the production of the work. Last of all collect and organise required opponents for the work. Also monitor the production of work ensuring that all parameters of the brief are met. To finish off accurately document the work progress in a format appropriate to the nature of the design and the requirements of the brief.

They are the things that you must take in to consideration when receiving and type of brief. Of course each brief will be a bit different but that is an overall summary you will need to consider.

However there is further information you may want to consider with in responding to a brief these being. Specifications this including the size, cost, target group, time frames and quantities for the design. Secondly constraints this including cost of production, distribution, budget and financing. As well as those theirs also pertinent information which includes material, health and safety, new technology, is it legal and copyright. Following on, formats for concept submission within this section it includes radio, dvd, digital copy, tape, storyboards and script. Last of all agreeing on concept may involve negotiation, discussion with client and viewing of rushes.

Different kind of briefs you can receive

A contractual brief involves a signed agreement with stated objectives. If you or the other party were to break any agreements you would be in breach of contract and could face legal action. To describe each brief i will refer to an example i have found so it is easier to understand. Within interpreting a contractual brief its very straight forward there may be negotiation before you sign the contract, but as soon as you have signed the it, it is very straight forward that you have to follow all the terms of the conditions and if you fail to follow the terms of your contracts their maybe consequences.

Responding to a Co-operative Brief

In a co-operative brief the client setting the brief wants you to join your skills with other people who are also handling the brief. This kind of brief is asking you to create a final product with other people who are creating other elements of the final product, this means you are working as a team. This means this kind of brief is very stressful as there will be many different ideas, people who don’t agree and do agree with your views. So you need to always know what everyone is doing so you know what your doing is going to fit in right.

Designing and developing

You need to make sure everyone involved in designing has the same amount of share of the project, so when it all has to come together, it will at the same time. So it looks professional and organised.

Liaising with your client

A co-operative brief is a harder than most briefs because there are lots of people accepting the brief and working with you. So if you were waning to change anything about the brief it wouldn’t just be the client you have to ask if would have to be all the people you are working with. Same goes for them if they want to change anything they would have to ask you, it can get difficult in the way that if you don’t want to change  waning to change anything about the brief it wouldn’t just be the client you have to ask if would have to be all the people you are working with. Same goes for them if they want to change anything they would have to ask you, it can get difficult in the way that if you don’t want to change a certain thing as it may affect your designing but everyone else does you has no choice.

Planning your production

The co-operative brief you will need to check that it fits the requirements of the other colleagues work and also the requirements of the brief. The deadline is also a given period of time and you have the same deadline as all the other colleagues.

Negotiated and informal brief

A negotiated brief consists of two parties have differing ideas and a compromise has to be found that makes both sides happy. Sometimes there may be a third party as well. By this it allows you to create a brief that suits your needs, this will make it easier to to meet the demands as it’s your own ideas. However not everything is so positive the other parties could go against your ideas and the brief would then be completely different to what you want it to be.

A negotiated brief as well allows you to discuss with the client and negotiate the brief to what you would like it to be like. These two briefs are similar as in both you can negotiate and design the brief around your own ideas. Both these briefs are known are informal briefs.

Designing and developing:

When doing this you will stick to the brief and stick by the rules issued. In an informal brief designing and developing your idea is the most enjoyable part as you have not been asked to design anything in particular, so you can basically design anything you like as long as it sticks to the brief the client provided.

In a negotiated brief you have two but possibly more designers involved with the same brief this means you can’t really change the brief without everyone being happy. You've already compromised with the other designers so there is a possibility that they might agree to your ideas. They might not agree because maybe you as a designer is doing all the work or, it’s all generated from your ideas.

Liaising with a client

As both of these briefs are laid back it is very easy to lias with the client. You can speak to the client when ever about queries or requests. In an informal brief there isn't really much to lias about with your client because they are both very simple briefs allowing you to choose, design and produce what you want. However negotiated briefs are different because you didn’t like an idea from another designer then you'd want to talk to your client and talk about different ideas and the complications.

Planning a production

You need to know the components that you need for the production and you need to be able to handle technical requirements that you will encounter within the production process of your brief.  Also you will need to keep the work flow documents saved depending on what time of production it is.You always need to remember to check the brief to make sure you have stuck to the requirements because if you don’t you could end up going over budget or missing a deadline whilst you had to correct your mistakes.

Responding To a Tender & Commission Brief

A commission brief and a tender brief are very similar. In a commission brief the client would give you the brief but however as the designer you would be able to change the brief an negotiate to suit you. As I said the tender brief is similar, the client will more than one tender brief and then the designer will choose the best brief for them.

Designing and developing

With a commission brief you are able to adapt ideas and designs as long as the let the client know before going ahead with the ideas and designs as it may affect the budget or other key factors.  A tender Brief you would stick to what the brief you have been given says and make no adaptations otherwise your brief would change and this would could make things harder for you in the long run.

Overall when designing and developing you need to think about your approach and make sure it’s the best way also check if this way is defiantly going to meet the requirements of the brief.

Liaising with your client

Liaising with your client with a tender or a commission brief is easier than the other briefs.  You need to agree with the client on when you are going to speak to them and potentially negotiate for your sake and input in the brief. In a commission and tender brief the only time you have to communicate with the client is at the start and then end. However every single client would want to be updated after every stage of production so they know if there are any problems, if the product is what they are expecting it to be. You would not want to design the whole thing and then the client dislikes it. Liaising with your client means you can receive feedback on if they like it, if they want anything changed or anything added. You will have to make sure you do respond to feedback to keep the client happy.

Planning Production

You need to know the components that you need for the production and you need to be able to handle technical requirements that you will come across contained by the production process of your brief. Before producing you also need to discuss with with any support services that you require by this i mean you may need a camera man, special effects artist or a musician. As well as planning you also need to bring together documentations of workflow depending on what type of production it is. You always need to remember to check the brief to make sure you have stuck to the requirements because if you don’t you could end up going over budget or missing a deadline whilst you had to correct your mistakes.

Responding To a Competiton Brief
A competition brief is probably one of the easiest briefs there are, everything is up to you.

Designing and developing
When designing and developing you dont need to worry alot about following the brief to much as it is a competition brief which mean you need to read what client wants the final subject to be, but its really up to you how you do it and where you do it.

Liaising with your client
You dont need to liase with the client atall, as it is completly your idea and the client wants to see what you can produce, not what you can produc with ideas from the client.

Planning Production
You need to know the components that you need for the production and you need to be able to handle technical requirements that you will encounter within the production process of your brief. Also you will need to keep the work flow documents saved depending on what time of production it is. So when you show your final product they can see what you did to get there and if you won the competition it could be due to how organised your ideas were and they want to use you to design or do something for them in the future. Even though its a competition brief you should refer back to the breif just to make sure you are keeping within what the brief has outline for you and most importantly you dont breech as if you do your work will not be accepted.

Story Board

Recycling

My idea for encouraging recycling is a simple short to the point clip. I have filmed different shots of different areas to show how littering is such a common thing, their are shots of litter in a river, park, college, local shopping towns, also in large walking areas. At the end i have found some interesting powerful statistics on recycling and the last clip basically says "RECYCLE".

 How i responded to the Brief: 
The brief i received was a tender brief. This is where you can change certains parts of the brief to be able to improve the final piece. The Recycling brief gave me an understanding of how recycling is so important and why we need to do it, so the good thing was i didn't have any queries about the brief. It was very self-explanatory. The brief gave me a keen interest to promote recycling. In the brief it says how it is aimed at young adults and how the short film is used to increase an emotional attachment to the planet and recycling. My initial and also final idea was to film litter and it being put in bins, also young adults acknowledging litter and the need to recycle. I chose to film at college as why would young adults want to learn in a cluttered environment but also attend a college that does not to its part for the environment. Hopefully seeing it on a screen will make them realise why you would drop it on the floor and litter when it’s so easy to recycle it and keep our planet healthier. The fact that is aimed at 16-20 year olds i decided to make my film short and snappy, as if i made it detailed and a lot of dialogue they would most likely be bored with in the firsts few shots shown. So by making it short and straight to the point it educates them on what littering is doing and how unattractive it looks and how recycling can really help our planet. I also took in to consideration that people may not know where when and what they can recycle so as i said at the end I will have a shot of a recycling bin and a small text detailing how where and what you can recycle. With my other group member James we both initially had different ideas and ended up putting our ideas together to create are final piece. Our idea didn’t change, however when we were filming we added different snippets of footage to add more of an overall effect on the audience (that being at the end of the clip they realise how easy it is to recycle and hopefully do it).Me and James planned the worked together, we did split it between us, James did the risk assessment and short script and i planned where we were going to film, i also thought about the different shots to use to make it more interesting. Nothing really changed between planning and production as we had a keen idea to keep it short and sweet and didn’t want to make anything too long, complicated and most of all boring. We decided to fade in and face out each scene, so you could clearly see the different environments at college and how litter (things that could be recycled) seemed to be every were. Over all I was not to pleased with the final outcome as there was a lack of different camera shots, I think the clip was so short and even though at the end their was information about recycling and where to do it, I think there should of maybe been an introduction on what the clip was about. Also some of the footage looks the same and when I watch it seems a bit pointless filming a bottle from two different angles. If I could change the my work now and re-do the work I would probably to make it more interesting, I could compose a questionnaire to find out how people would like to know about recycling, also think about and use a lot more different camera angles as the clip is mostly filmed from the same angle. I think by filming it from different angles it would make the clip more fun to watch and would not be boring. I have learnt from responding to a brief to make sure before you undertake any pre-production you understand what you need to do and if you don’t ask your client so you understanding it better so you don’t make silly mistakes.

Script of our short film:

Medium close up of bin with rubbish in, High angle shot with no camera movement and fades out.
Fade in. Cup in the road  with cigarettes around it, next to a curb, close up shot with a low angle. Car drives past so there is a shadow then the clip fades out.
Fade in. close up, high angle of a bottle in the road. Fades out.
Fade in. Same clip as before with a different angle of the bottle, close up. Fades out.
Fade in. Extreme close up shot of fence, looking onto a bag of crisps on the grass, eye level shot looking down. Fades out.
Fade in. Low angle, close up shot of bottle on floor inside building. Fades out.
Fade in. Recycling bin with a shot of a card board box, eye level close up shot which fades out.
Fade in. Shot of whole recycling bin, eye level medium shot. Fades out.
Fade in. shot of me walking inside the building seeing a bottle on the floor, walking back and picking up the bottle on the left of the clip and putting it in the bin. This is an eye level shot which starts off from a long distance shot and ends up with a close up of the bin. Fade out.
Fade in. Eye level shot of a poster saying "Your planet needs you. Recycle" with a picture of a soldier pointing on it. Fades out.

Camera Shots:
We dont actually have a wide variety of camera shots they mostly consist of, close ups, extreme close ups and medium close ups. For future filming i will have to take in to consideration using different shots to make my documents or short films more interesting and if i use a variety of shows it will show more ability and will make it more interesting to watch instead of watching the whole clip from the same angle.

Risk assesment

ACTIVITY	HAZARD	RISK H/M/L	PRECAUTIONS	IN PLACE	REVIEW DATE	REVIEWER
Elle had to climb on top of the wall near the recycling bins to get the right camera angle for the video clip. This was for the shot of me putting the rubbish into the recycling bin. One of our Video clips of rubbish was recorded in the middle of the road on the hill opposite the college. James had to put rubbish in the big cycling bins for one of the video clips.	Elle could have fallen off of where she was standing and broken a bone or injured herself. Cars often drive up and down the hill and if they don’t see us we could get hit and injured. If the lid wasn’t secure it could have fallen and caught my hands whilst I was putting the rubbish in which could have cut my hands.	M M/H L	Make sure Elle was standing safely on the wall and secure so she couldn’t slip and hurt herself. Make sure she wasn’t sitting to close to the edge or she could have easily slipped off. Make sure the cars can see us in the road and to make sure the road is clear of cars before we go out into the road and start recording. Make sure the lid of the recycling bin was held up securely and there was no way of it closing shut when James was putting the rubbish in the bin.

Working to brief

Contractual - Involves a signed agreement with stated objectives. If you or the other party were to break any agreements you would be in breech of contract and could face legal action

Negotiated - Two parties have differing ideas and a compromise has to be found that makes both sides happy, sometimes involving a third party (An arbitrator)

Informal - More of a verbal agreement between parties with nothing official or in writing, less formal so to speak

 Tender - The production company might find out someone is looking for a video. They put together a brief with a proposal and a budget and send it to the potential client. The client would look at all the different tenders they receive and choose the one they prefer.

 Co-operative brief - You work alongside other production companies or organisations who also have a brief therefore your brief has to co-operate with the brief they

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/english_contract_law

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Source:http://www.iaaf.uwa.edu.au/imagetypeshortversion.html